“You can’t think different in a country where you can’t speak freely,” he said. “You can’t think different in a country where you are not allowed to challenge the orthodoxy. You can’t think different in a country that limits what you can be engaged in.”

There was also some perhaps unintended irony in Biden’s decision to quote the late Apple founder, since many of the company’s products are manufactured in China, though its products are developed – and some components are made – in the United States.

The freedom to innovate will keep the United States atop the global economy, Biden said, but it's also up to the government to work to improve conditions for trade by reforming immigration laws and improving schools.

The Obama administration will keep pushing to level the playing field of global trade, the vice president said, though “we even win when the field is not quite level."

“I make no apology when I travel abroad to make the case for American companies. No apology,” he said. When he and other administration officials travels abroad, they serve as “an extended chamber of commerce, to make sure American companies get an even shot.”